Ubuntu – How to open an URL from command line to Firefox and “switch to tab”

command linefirefox

Firefox 5.0 has the option to "switch to tab" if the requested URL or search terms point to an already open URL (great thing by the way).

Now, to open a URL from command line to Firefox a mere firefox http://myurl.com would do, but even if that URL already is open, Firefox will open it once more in another tab.

How can I—from command line—tell Firefox to open the desired URL in an already existing tab if possible?

Best Answer

You can do it like:

firefox -new-tab "www.duckduckgo.com"

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Ubuntu – Can any browser switch to already open tab, if address you’re opening is already open

This is a feature of Firefox 4. If you start typing an already opened address, the drop-down menu will suggest switching to the already active tab pointing to that address.

There is an add-on for Firefox that will give you total keyboard control over the browser called "Pentadactyl" (here). While not required, you'll probably enjoy it more if you already know vi keybindings.

So in fact, there is a way to change tabs with a "terminal" (ok, not really a terminal). But Pentadactyl supports the following commands:

:tabnext
:tabprevious
:tablast

and several others.

Ubuntu – terminal command to open new chromium tab

Open a New Tab and look at the Developer Tools - Sources tab. URL for New Tab is:

chrome-search://local-ntp/local-ntp.html

This will open a new tab in existing Chromium instance:

chromium chrome-search://local-ntp/local-ntp.html

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Can any browser switch to already open tab, if address you’re opening is already open

Ubuntu – terminal command to open new chromium tab

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